Turkish Film Industry 2011 Report

Having started to come alive in the middle of 1990s, the 2000s have been the most productive and most successful years for Turkish film industry, both nationally and internationally. The industry has continued to grow during the last year, as well: 2011 has been the most successful of the recent years in terms both of the number of new releases and of admissions. During the last year, a total of 288 films were released, of which 70 were Turkish. Looking at the last 25 years of the theatrical releases in Turkey, 2011 has witnessed the highest number of Turkish films, as well as the highest number of total of Turkish and international films having been released.

While the number of admissions for 65 Turkish films was 21,706,524 in 2010, the number of admissions for 70 Turkish films has been 21,222,541 in 2011. Although there has been a slight drop in the viewers of Turkish films, the total number of admissions increased. The number of admissions has increased from 41,064,394 in 2010 to 42,298,500 in 2011. While Turkish films represented 53% of total admissions in 2010, this figure dropped to 50% in 2011. Although there has been an increase in the number of Turkish and foreign releases, the admissions per film decreased. While the year 2011 witnessed the highest number of admissions among the last 22 years, it is observed that Turkey is still behind European countries in terms of admissions with proportion to the population. Thus, the country still has a small film market compared to its population of 73 million, and as such it has a high potential for growth.

Distribution Free market conditions apply for the Turkish film distribution industry, with no subsidies or incentives. 18 distribution companies have been active in Turkey in 2011, among which Özen Film, UIP, WB and Tiglon dominate 80% of the market.

Among the 288 new releases in Turkey in 2011, Eyvah Eyvah 2 (Alas Alas 2), which is a sequel, has been the film that was most extensively distributed and reached the highest number of viewers. It reached 3,947,988 admissions with 356 copies. 2011’s top four films, as well as six out of top ten films were Turkish films. Apart from Eyvah Eyvah 2 which was number one, the romantic drama Aşk Tedadüfleri Sever (Love Just A Coincidence) reached 2,418,090 admissions as number two. An action film which was a TV series adaptation Kurtlar Vadisi Filistin (Valley of the Wolves: Palestine) was number three with 2,028,057 admissions and the Turkish animation Allah’ın Sadık Kulu (God’s Faithful Servant) was number four with 2,186,696 admissions. Meanwhile, Karayip Korsanları: Gizemli Denizlerde was number one among foreign releases in 2011, with 1,170,783 admissions.

In spite of the fact that only four of the top ten films were Turkish ones, the total number of admissions of these four films represent half of the admissions of the 70 new Turkish releases in 2011. Looking at this picture, it goes without saying that increases in the numbers of productions and admissions do not support each other in the Turkish cinema. Although the Turkish cinema manages to make popular films that draw millions of people to movie theaters during the recent years, the films that are not competitive in the commercial sense can only reach a limited admission figure. As an example, the film that was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival, Biz Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon A Time in Anatolia, reached only 153,669 with 66 copies.

2005-2011 Theatrical Release Data - Turkey Total Share of Share of Number Admissions Admissions Admissions Admissions of Films Turkish for Turkish for Turkish Foreign for Foreign for Foreign Year Total Admissions Released Films Films Films Films Films Film 2011 42.298.500 288 70 21.222.541 50% 218 21.075.959 50% 2010 41.064.394 252 65 21.706.524 53% 187 19.357.870 47% 2009 36.899.954 255 69 18.790.700 51% 186 18.109.254 49% 2008 38.465.046 265 50 23.074.291 60% 215 15.390.755 40% 2007 31.161.700 247 40 11.875.820 38% 207 19.285.880 62% 2006 34.860.844 238 34 17.800.496 51% 204 17.060.348 49% 2005 27.250.989 221 27 11.441.856 42% 194 15.809.133 58%

Support A considerable increase has been recorded in terms of production of Turkish films thanks to support provided by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism since 2005 and the increasing admission numbers of Turkish films. While only 9 Turkish films were released in 2002, this figure has increased to 70 in 2011. Currently, the support from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is the only national support mechanism for local productions. Besides supporting national productions, in order to increase international productions in Turkey and subsidize co-productions, an amendment was made to the VAT law in 2009. This has provided for the legal infrastructure that would allow companies based abroad to rebate the VAT’s of their costs incurred in Turkey. Last year, some portions of the films Taken 2 and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance were shot in Turkey, and this year, the latest James Bond movie to be directed by Sam Mendes will also include scenes to be shot in Turkey. Apart from this, the General Directorate of Intellectual Property and Cinema is drafting a law to allow for foreign films to be shot in Turkey. This draft law which is expected to be enacted within 2012 aims at providing financial support to foreign productions.

While the guilds and the trade unions for the audiovisual industry in Turkey are not yet as powerful as their counterparts in Europe or the U.S., these institutions have been organizing and mobilizing in the recent years to become more active. An example to these undertakings is the Young Turkish Cinema, a movement initiated in 2010 by young Turkish directors and producers, which aims at increasing cooperation, communication and solidarity between young filmmakers and supporting the development of various production and distribution models. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has recently announced that they will provide increased support to family movies, as well as historical and epic movies from now on. Objecting such evaluation of the projects that apply for support within a certain ideological framework, the Young Turkish Cinema movement declared that they will discuss this issue with the ministry this year.

In 2011, 19 out of 70 newly released Turkish films have received support from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s production and post-production funding. This table gathers the data on these supported films (Hayda Bre was added to the list on account of its release date of 31st of December 2010).

Support from Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism General Directorate of Cinema for the Films Released in 2011 Title of the Year of Type of Support Amount of Amount of 2011 Film Support Support Support Admissions (TL) (Euro)1 1 Hayda Bre 2008 feature 250.000 115.740 10.472 2 Zefir (Zephyr) 2008 first feature 200.000 92.592 5.105 3 Gölgeler ve 2009 Suretler (Shadows and Faces) feature 225.000 102.272 28.348 4 Bizim Büyük 2009 Çaresizliğimiz (Our Grand Despair) feature 200.000 90.909 20.018 5 Saç (Hair) 2009 feature 150.000 68.181 1.205 6 Kars Öyküleri 2009 (Tales from Kars) post-production 60.000 27.272 450 7 Kaledeki 2009 200.000 Yalnızlık first feature 90.909 8.542 8 Küçük Günahlar 2009 first feature 200.000 90.909 5.104 9 İncir Reçeli 2010 feature 200.000 96.618 250.327 10 Çınar Ağacı 2010 feature 400.000 193.236 322.232 11 Aşk ve Devrim 2010 (Love and Revolution) first feature 250.000 113.636 9.865 12 Labirent 2010 (Labyrinth) feature 400.000 193.236 106.718 13 Gelecek Uzun 2010 Sürer (Future Lasts Forever) feature 350.000 159.090 31.918 14 Gişe Memuru 2010 (Toll Booth) feature 200.000 96.618 18.645 15 7 Avlu (Seven 2010 Courtyards) post-production 60.000 28.985 3.070 16 Saklı Hayatlar 2010 feature 200.000 96.618 44.953 17 Entelköy 2011 Efeköy’e Karşı (Ecotopia) feature 250.000 104.166 407.547 18 Ay Büyüyürken 2011 Uyuyamam feature 300.000 125.000 67.816 19 İz / Reç (The 2011 Trace) post-production 75.000 33.125 2.202

1 The TL amounts were converted to Euro amounts through the annual average Euro/TL exchange rate of the year the support was provided.

Number of Films That Received Support from Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism General Directorate of Cinema Year Feature First Feature Post- Total Production 2005 14 0 0 14 2006 10 8 1 19 2007 24 11 6 41 2008 16 14 2 32 2009 16 11 5 32 2010 15 17 7 39 2011 23 23 12 58

Average support received from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism General Directorate of Cinema Year Feature First Feature Post-production 2005 67.058 € 0 0 2006 77.383 € 105.485 € 12.618 € 2007 48.773 € 89.566 € 20.538 € 2008 40.326 € 85.894 € 12.658 € 2009 118.011 € 84.388 € 24.050 € 2010 148.523 € 90.613 € 25.316 € 2011 106.402 € 93.560 € 30.590 €

European Co-Productions

As a member of Eurimages since 1990, Turkey annually takes part in 4 majority co- productions and 2 minority co-productions on average. Among the films released in 2010, Bal (Semih Kaplanoğlu), Köprüdekiler (Aslı Özge) and Pus (Tayfun Pirselimoğlu) had European co-producers. Meanwhile, eight out of the 70 Turkish films released in 2011 had European co-producers. These films were: Aşk ve Devrim (Serkan Acar), Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (), Bizim Büyük Çaresizliğimiz (Seyfi Teoman), Gelecek Uzun Sürer (Özcan Alper), Labirent (Tolga Örnek), Saç (Tayfun Pirselimoğlu), Sinyora Enrika ile İtalyan Olmak (Ali İlhan) and Yangın Var (Murat Saraçoğlu). Majority co-productions are conducted usually with Greece, the Netherlands, Hungary, Germany and France.

Children’s Movies in Turkey

Melodramas and comedies were genres that stood out in Turkey which possessed one of the largest film industries of the world before 1980. Children’s movies were among the hundreds of films produced in the golden age of Yeşilçam (Green Pipe), the metonym for the Turkish film industry. Movies narrating the stories of child heroes and heroines such as Ayşecik (Little Ayşe) and Ömercik (Little Ömer) turned out to be productions that attracted the attention of adults, as much as children. Turkish versions of classical tales such as Snow White and Cinderella, as well as popular American movies such as The Wizard of Oz were also produced in this era. The fact that these films are still shown on national television channels, reaching a certain amount of audience, is a major indication of their enduring potential for attracting attention. Although the Turkish cinema has been growing in the industrial sense recently, there is no revival in the production of children’s movies. Besides Ömerçip, a film produced in 2003 emulating Yeşilçam’s child hero, and Çocuk, produced in 2007 and directed by Onur Ünlü; the feature animation Allah’ın Sadık Kulu Barla, which attracted much attention when it was released last year, come out as films produced for children during the recent years. Meanwhile, currently, a fantastic film project and a feature animation film project are planned to be released during the coming year. While there is no significant increase of attention for producing children’s movies in the industry, the increasing numbers of children’s films’ festivals and featuring of children’s films as a sub-category of film festivals organized in various provinces indicate that the interest in this area is rising.

Television

Since the deregulation of the monopoly of the public broadcasting and establishment of private TV channels in 1990, TV productions and advertising films industry have been important venues for developing the technological and human capital for the Turkish Cinema. Although TV networks do not commission TV films, there is a huge market for TV series. Recently, Turkish TV series have started to access the Middle Eastern, North African and Balkan markets, where they are followed with much interest.

Turkey – Film Industry Fact Sheet (2011) Average price per ticket (2010) 9,26 TL / 3,9 € Average price per ticket (2011) 9,42 TL / 4 € Price for a loaf of bread 1,75 TL / 0,73 € Number of screens (2011) 1968 Total Number of Films Released (2011) 288 Local Films Released (2011) 70 Total Admissions (2011) 42.293.660 Box Office Gross of Local Films (2011) 183.694.163,80 TL / 77.508.086 € Box Office Gross 398.393.000,00 TL / 168.098.312 € Admissions for Local Films (2011) 21.222.541 Admissions for Local Films (2010) 21.706.524 Share of Local Films (2011) 50% Digital Cinema Screens (2011) 135 Average Budget for Local Productions 500,000 € Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s Production €100,000 –€200,000 Support (2011) (58 features, 23 first features)

INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIMS (2002-2011) 2011: Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan wins Grand Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival 2011: Bizim Büyük Çaresizliğimiz (Our Grand Despair) by Seyfi Teoman was in competition at Berlin Film Festival 2010: Çoğunluk (Majority) by Seren Yüce wins Lion of the Future at Venice Film Festival 2010: Bal (Honey) by Semih Kaplanoğlu wins Golden Bear in Berlin Film Festival 2009: Pandora’nın Kutusu (Pandora’s Box), Yeşim Ustaoğlu wins Golden Shell–Best Film and Best Actress Awards at San Sebastian Film Festival 2009: İhtimal (Wrong Rosary) by Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun wins Tiger Award at Rotterdam Film Festival 2008: Üç Maymun (Three Monkeys) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan wins Best Director at Cannes Film Festival 2008: Gitmek (My Marlon and Brando) by Hüseyin Karabey wins Best New Narrative Filmmaker Award at Tribeca Film Festival 2006: İklimler (Climates) by NuriBilge Ceylan wins FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes Film Festival 2002: Uzak (Distant) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan wins Grand Prix and Best Actor Prize at Cannes Film Festival Sources: Antrakt Sinema Gazetesi, Box Office Türkiye Altyazı Aylık Sinema Dergisi.